Taiwan Trip: Taipei - On Cloud 101

Our road trip in Taiwan came to an end upon our return to Hsinchu City from Leofoo Theme Park. Our car rental service provider based in Taichung is one hour drive away from here. He agreed to pick up the car from Hsinchu. The only extra cost incurred would be his train ticket to get to our current stopover. That makes a total expenditure of 9600 yuan per car, excludes petrol. If you are travelling in a group of 4 or more, renting a car seems to be a good bargain.

Bin Chen Hotel (our accommodation in the city) is strategically located near a train station, which became our alternative to board on normal train to get to Taipei. Our initial plan was to board the fast train, HSR but the station is quite a distance and obviously the fare is more expensive. The train station was discovered by accident as we were strolling around the streets to actually look for ways to get to HSR station but we found the train fare 50% cheaper, but with additional 30 minutes travelling time.

After a decent breakfast at the hotel on the Saturday morning, we walked to the train station with our luggage (finally and literaly, backpack trip began at that point of time) and boarded 0900 hours train. There are three kinds of tickets available which differ in fare and travelling time. We opted for the cheapest fare which is around 113 yuan with 1 hour and a half travelling time (HSR fare is 295 yuan for 40 minutes). I would say this train service is similar to our KTM. (HSR is our ETS' equivalent).

Taipei

Arrived at Taipei Main Station, we switched to Metro to get to our hotel. Taipei Main Station is considered as the hub where all the trains meet here. The only quirk (which is to be fixed in 2016) is direct transport to Taoyuan International Airport as the railway is still in construction. Taipei Metro is not as complex as the one in Beijing and Seoul. There are 2 kinds of daily pass: 150 yuan which is to be used within the same day and 180 yuan which is valid for 24 hours upon purchase. We bought neither after considering our itinerary. Most of the single trip that we have cost range from 20 yuan to 35 yuan.

Exiting Ximen Station 

We booked a 2 night-stay at Backpacker Hostel which is located 10-minute walk from Ximen Station. Ximending is one of the famous shopping street in Taipei and it comes to my attention that Taiwanese seems to be fond of anime characters too as evidently displayed on the street. Back to our stay, it is 2 pairs of bunk beds with a private bathroom which costs 5000 yuan. A rather pricey stay but the hostel was relatively new and the facilities were good.

Settling our luggage at the hostel and we commenced our journey in Taipei, this time, on foot. We went to one of the beef noodle shop within the vicinity. When we reached the place, the place was already crowded which is a good sign. We ordered two bowls: spicy and non-spicy and both are equally favourable (this is our very first meal of beef noodle in this trip). Do be alarmed that it is quite pricey, around 220 yuan per bowl.

Beef Noodle Shop @ Niu Dian

Next round we proceed to the famous Ah Zong Noodle at Ximending Street. The shop only comes with counter and no chairs are provided. You will notice the crowd standing eating the cups of noodles.

 The noodle has a bit of acquired taste with the viscous gravy.

National Palace Museum

From Ximend Station, we boarded on Metro to get to Shilin. From there, you need to get on a bus (15 yuan per way) to get to the museum.

My friend posed in front of the museum

It is a modern museum which houses collectibles from ancient China civilization, unlike the one in Beijing which are displayed within the Forbidden City. The famous display will be the cabbage jadeite at level 3, where one needs to queue to actually look at it. You won't be allowed to stay long to give way to other visitors. Do take time to notice the grasshoppers on the cabbage, there are 2 of them. Nearby is the meat-shaped stone which is rather famous too. But I'm more fascinated by the origins of Chinese characters, of all the exhibitions there.

We spend around 3 hours at the 3-storey building and that was sufficient to cover the whole place. The museum is accessible with a fee of 250 yuan. Apparently there is a combo entrance fee package inclusive of the museum and Taipei 101 which can only be purchased at the tower.

Shilin Night Market

The night fell and the empty stomach yearned for food. Finally it is the night market that we have anticipated to visit throughout the trip (since it is the most famous one). It seems a relatively good plan to visit the National Palace Museum in the afternoon before concluding your evening at the market.

The night market is pretty huge and it is more than just streets of food. Apparently it is a good place to shop and the stuff are pretty cheap too, even the souvenirs. As usual, the place was crowded just like any other night markets. Surely, there are plenty of choices to pick from. Bought most of my souvenirs here. Be prepared to stay long at the market. We only left when it was almost midnight.

Oyster omelette  

Underground food market

Mengjia Longshan Temple

Had a brief breakfast nearby our hostel, we took a cab (80 yuan) to the temple. It is claimed to be one of the oldest temples in the city. The temple was swarmed with worshipers.

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Using Metro to Chiang Kai Shek Station, the memorial hall is surrounded by a vast well-decorated landscape. Walking up the staircase to visit the seated belated president. The exhibition hall below portrays the life of Chiang Kai Shek and his wife, who was apparently a fine artist.

There is always pair of guard guarding the statue and there is guard changing every hour. It's free to enter the hall and a max of one hour is adequate to appreciate the place.

Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall
From one hall to another, this time we visited the statue of the founder of Republic of China. This place is reached via metro which stops at Sun Yat Sen Station. There were groups of students practice dancing nearby the hall. It is not so much of the hall that drives our visit here for little I know about these prominent Taiwan figures. It's the next destination which makes this drop by worthwhile. Free entrance to the place.

Nice landscape surrounding the hall, too.

Taipei 101

The climax of this trip should be none other than the building that dethrones PETRONAS Twin Tower as the tallest building in the world in the year 2004, before being taken over by Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Regardless, it remains the tallest green building.

Me with Taipei 101 and Taiwan flag in the background, which clearly marks my footprint in the heart of "Formosa"

The building is walkable from Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, where if you considered 23 minutes walkable. Upon our entrance to the mall below, it reminded me a lot of KLCC. Had a quick dinner at the food court and we headed to level 5 to buy the entrance ticket to observatory deck. You shall wait for your turn as indicated by ticket number before going up to level 89 via the fastest elevator in the world. Outdoor observatory deck at Level 91 is accessible via stairs.

Skyline of Taipei from Level 89

The famous damper that keeps the building in place in the event of adverse weather

The building at its glory at night. (Purple colour indicates it's Sunday).

Taipei 101 marks the final destination of 10-day trip in Taiwan before leaving to Malaysia on the next day. It has been pretty adventurous with the road trip, eyes-opening with the places we covered and eventful with the activities we did. Taiwan is more than just about the city where I believe ones should explore beyond its urbanisation. There are more to offer beyond the concrete jungle.

My next visit to Taiwan shall be indulging in its deep blue sea.

Taichung → Chia Yi → Kaohsiung/Kenting → Hua Lien → Jiufen/Shifen/Yehliu→ Hsinchu → TAIPEI